In Every Universe - Chapter 1

Willing to Try
(Izzy Verse)

"Johanna, everything looks fine."

Of course he says that. The man who's nonchalant about nearly everything unless it happens to him personally. He's not the one who feels the pressure to get this right after everything that's happened, all the disagreements and hard feelings. He's of the opinion that enough time has passed, and bygones are bygones, and everything will be all right as if by magic.

"I want it to be more than fine, Jim," she murmurs, adjusting a pillow on the couch. "I want it to be better."

"It will be," he assures. "But Jo, the placement of the pillows on the couch, or the type of plates on the table aren't going to be what changes things. It's all of us – you, me, and Katie, too. We're the ones who are going to fix what was broken, not how spotless and nice the house looks."

She sighs, running a hand through her hair only to pull it back and fix the mess she's making. He's right, she knows, but…

"Okay, okay. I'll stop." She holds up her hands in surrender. "No more frantic cleaning and straightening."

Jim smiles, motioning for her to sit, to take a deep breath, to do anything except fret.

"What time did she say her plane is coming in?"

Her husband checks his watch. "Should land in about an hour and a half. She swore she could get a cab and made me promise not to come pick her up," he adds before Johanna can ask about that as well.

She sighs. "Of course she did. She can't just let us do something for her?"

"I think she doesn't want to make us get out on the road with as busy as it is," Jim says, ever pragmatic. "It's busiest travel day of the holiday season, not counting around Thanksgiving; it's nice of her to not want us out in that mess."

Somehow, they'd switched roles in recent years; Jim and Katie had always butted heads, too alike for their own good, while she acted as her daughter's confidant, but now she and Kate seem to do nothing but antagonize each other while Jim acts as the bridge between them, the calming voice of reason.

It's one of the things she hopes will change, finding common ground with her daughter once again, regaining some of the closeness they'd once felt before Kate went off to college and the entire dynamic of their lives ended up different. If nothing else, she'd like this visit, the first in far too long, to be the start of new communication, instead of a lack of any as it's been since she and Katie fought the last time.

"Or maybe she's bringing a new boyfriend and didn't want to tip us off too early."

"Bite your tongue."

Johanna tosses her head back and laughs. Well, at least there's one thing about their daughter that can still get to Jim: reminders that Katie dates and usually her taste in men leaves something very great to be desired.

"God, do you remember some of those boys?"

"The one who smoked like a chimney," Jim says. "She came home from every date smelling like a can of air freshener."

She snorts. "Then there was the one in the band…"

"I hated that guy."

"We all did, honey. Kate did, too, she just dated him to piss you off."

"I'm stunned," Jim drawls. "Our teenage daughter, doing something to be a little spiteful and a lot cantankerous? So out of character for her."

Johanna laughs again, covering her mouth with her hand. Katie's teenage years really were something.

"Don't forget the other one," Jim starts, tilting his head. "The one who looked like he was thirty-seven"

Laughter bubbles over again. "He had a better mustache than you at the time."

"Seventeen, my ass," Jim grumbles. "He was at least twenty-five, if not older."

Johanna shakes her head, exhaling. Strange as it sounds, she actually misses those days. When their biggest problems were momentary squabbles over the less than stellar high school boyfriends, curfews, and a daughter whose rebellious streak knew very few limits but always managed to stop her short of irreversible damage.

Now, they have months of silence and years of distance to contend with; hurt feelings and sharp words that can't be resolved with ice cream and a movie after just a few days. Katie has her own life across the country, her own schedule - and whether Johanna likes it or not, she understands now that part of why Kate sticks to it the way she does is because of her. Because of the example she set when her daughter was a child.

Jim's hand lands on her thigh, squeezing gently. "Come back, Jo. I feel you getting pensive."

"Just… thinking."

His lips touch her hair. "Let's think over a snack, I'm starving."

She laughs. "You'll spoil dinner."

He heaves himself off the couch, grunting when he hauls her up as well. "A handful of crackers and some cheese, that's all. Not even enough to be dinner for a mouse."

She rolls her eyes but follows her husband into the kitchen. It's a distraction technique, that's obvious enough, but she'll let him give it his best shot. Besides, a snack probably won't hurt. If anything, it may help the nervous churning in her gut.

"Okay, get your crackers and pick the cheese," she agrees, reaching for a knife and a cutting board. "I'll-"

She's cut off by the sharp rap of knuckles on the door.

"I thought you said…"

Jim's brow furrows. "That's what she told me. Besides, she still has her key; it's not like we changed the locks on her when she packed the last of her things. It could be a delivery, too. Theresa did say they were mailing something to us this year. I'll check," he adds before she can suggest it, lowering the cracker boxes to the counter and disappearing toward the front door.

Johanna grabs the block of cheese and rips it open, pressing the knife to one end and slicing.

"Uh… Jo?"

She sighs, cutting through another slice. "What?"

"Come here?"

"How big is the box Theresa sent, Jim?" she calls, but she puts the knife down anyway and makes her way out of the kitchen.

Her husband's wry smile is the first thing she notices.

"Funny enough, it's a special delivery," he drawls, gesturing toward the door. "But not from my sister."

Johanna follows his pointing finger, finding herself face to face with her daughter, a young man she recognizes from the gossip pages she reads at the salon, and a baby carrier in the man's hand.

"I-Katie!"

Kate's chin lowers and her cheeks redden. Johanna watches as she swallows hard.

"Hi, Mom. Um… surprise?"

In hindsight, perhaps just showing up and springing her baby and her partner on them hadn't been the best way to go about telling her parents, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to just blurt it out on the phone that, in the time they were barely speaking, she'd met someone - someone her mother knows by name if not personally - fallen for him in a way that surprises even her, and had a baby with him. That would've gone over terribly.

Hell, she's still not sure it's not going to go over badly. Her father - her ally in recent months - had stumbled through an invitation inside and hasn't said a word since, and her mother looks vaguely like she might faint.

"So… this is." She clears her throat, turning to face Rick, meeting his eyes and feeling the confidence he radiates, gathering her wits to start over. "Mom, Dad, this is Rick - Rick Castle, my… Rick, this is my mom and dad."

Her - fiancé? Fiancé to be? Something in between; they're still talking about that. - smiles, freeing a hand from the carrier to touch her side first in support. Said hand extends to her parents one at a time a moment later.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Beckett, Mrs. Beckett," he says, and she can see that the smile he offers is genuine. It's not a publicity smile, something fake meant to charm, and Kate finds herself stepping closer to him to absorb his serenity. She has no idea how he can be so zen about all of this, about showing up at his significant other's parents' house with his baby in tow, but he's a rock star, no matter

Her father recovers first, shaking Rick's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you. Ah, Katie didn't tell us she was bringing… anyone."

"Katie didn't tell us much of anything," her mother mumbles and for the briefest instance, Kate feels her hackles rise.

She hadn't told Johanna anything because her mother has been practically impossible to talk to for a good two years, if not longer. Ever since she'd decided to stay in California, her mother has shut her out, behaving as if Kate had betrayed her by living her own life. When she'd met Rick and they'd started seeing each other, she'd considered calling, and when she'd found out she was pregnant, her phone had been in her hand for hours before she'd decided not to. She hadn't wanted that conversation to end in a fight, not like the others had.

"Christmas surprise," Rick says easily, turning up the charm to a ten for her mom's sake. "This is Isabelle," he continues, lifting the carrier and turning it for her parents to see.

Kate feels a little like a coward for letting him take the lead, but her heart throbs at the sight of Isabelle in Rick's capable hands as her parents meet her baby for the first time.

"She was a trooper through the airport," Rick says. "Didn't even fuss when we got an upgrade on an earlier flight."

Kate watches her mother move closer to the carrier and lift a hand, touching Izzy's sock-covered foot. Her father does the same, resting a hand on her mom's hip as he reaches for the baby.

Isabelle sleeps on, oblivious to the fact that she's the centerpiece in a reunion that's been a longtime coming.

"Oh, she's beautiful."

Kate exhales, leaning her cheek on Rick's arm. "She's… she's more than I ever imagined," she admits, hiding her face for a moment. She'd never, ever, in a million years expected to be that person, that mom, who gushes over her kid this way. But here she is.

"How old?" Jim asks, steering the conversation for all of them.

"Seven weeks. Eight on Thursday," Kate answers. "I mean to tell you about her, about everything," she continues helping Rick hold the carrier as her parents stare at their granddaughter in awe, eyes going between both Jim and Johanna with a beseeching look, "but things were so… and then so much time had passed, I just wasn't sure how. And then it was Christmas and…" she trails off, nodding as her father's hands stop on the seat buckle, looking up in question. "And then we thought we would just… come and tell you in person. Introduce you, instead of telling you over the phone."

Her father lifts Isabelle out of the carrier, cradling her against his arm as her mother looks on, Johanna's eyes suspiciously shiny.

"Hi, sweetheart," they murmur together. "Oh, you're such a beautiful girl. And you already had your first flight; look at you."

Kate exhales, clutching her partner's shirt in her fingers. Rick turns a smile to her, dipping his head to peck her lips quickly.

"We call her Izzy sometimes," she says, when they part, hoping her cheeks aren't too red. "Most of the time, to be honest. But her full name is Isabelle Marie Castle."

Her mother's eyes lift to hers, recognition and joy lighting her face. Kate nods, reaching out a hand that Johanna clasps.

"For you, Mom."

"Katie."

She chokes on something that might be a sob; her hormones are still all over the place and honestly, throughout all of this, she's just wanted her mom.

Johanna guides her closer, easing her into an embrace that she's been craving for months, if not longer than that. Kate grips her mother's back, pressing her face into her neck.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, "for not telling you."

"I'm sorry, too," Johanna admits. "For not-"

She nods, hugging her mother tighter. "Me too. Merry Christmas, Mom," she adds, hearing Rick and her father chuckle at her back.

"Merry Christmas, Katie."

Kate sighs, feeling her mother's arms tighten around her. There's so much more for them to do, so much more ground to cover to make things right between them but she can't help the hope that rises in her.

"Now," Johanna starts, pulling away and looking her over before her attention returns to the baby in Jim's arms, "tell me more about Miss Isabelle. And you, too, Rick."

Rick lifts his head, his eyes moving away from the baby. Kate licks her lips, sending him a look for no reason other than encouraging him not to get too cocky.

"I'd love to," he says, putting the carrier on the floor as if he's just realized he's still holding the thing. "Izzy is, by far, my favorite subject."

Kate laughs, reaching for his hand and drawing him near. She watches her mother take Isabelle out of her father's arms, drawing the baby to her chest, and relaxes for the first time since they left California.

The issues between them are not completely solved, not even close, but this right here is a start. They might actually be okay, both for Christmas and beyond. In fact, they might be better than before, if they both work for it - if they all work for it.

She knows she's stubborn and at times pigheaded, but as she watches her partner talking with her parents as they fawn over and cuddle her daughter, she's willing to try.

This chapter is based on a verse I've written a couple of Fluffy Friday ficlets about (bunysliper tumblr com slash tagged slash Izzy+Verse).

A bit of explanation: This story will be a series of oneshots based on various alternate universes I've posted, either here or on my tumblr, as a sort of 12 Days of Christmas (starting a bit late, because I was AFK yesterday) leading up to January 6th, which is known as Epiphany or Three Kings Day. I may stretch it out a day or so, but that's the goal - a chapter a day of various AUs until January 6th. Each chapter will stand alone, unless noted otherwise.

Thank you for reading, I hope you like each chapter and enjoy the story as a whole!